The years children spend in school are about far more than academic success. Alongside literacy, numeracy and subject knowledge, children develop the social and emotional skills needed to thrive in the world around them.
From sharing ideas to resolving disagreements, these everyday interactions shape how children understand fairness, respect and responsibility. These are more than just learned skills – they are rooted in deeper values that guide behavior over time.
Without clear guidance, children often learn behaviors simply by observing others. While this can be positive, it can also reinforce negative habits. That’s why schools play a critical role in explicitly teaching values, not just expecting them.
Social skills vs. Social values
Although closely related, social skills and values are not the same:
Social skills are behaviors (such as taking turns, listening, cooperating)
Social values are the principles behind those behaviors (such as fairness, respect, empathy)
When children understand why something matters—not just what to do—they are more likely to apply those behaviors consistently.
Core values every child should learn
Defining values can be complex, but most education systems emphasize a shared set of foundational principles:
Respect for others and appreciation of diversity
Collaboration and community awareness
Environmental responsibility
Self-worth and confidence
Even at a young age, children demonstrate a natural sense of fairness and honesty. With the right support, these instincts can be developed into strong moral foundations.
Moving beyond “School Rules”
Too often, values are reduced to simple instructions like:
“Don’t be late”
“Wait your turn”
“Be kind”
While important, these rules can feel arbitrary if not explained. Without context, children may follow them only when supervised – or break them when they can.
To truly teach values, educators need to:
Explain the reasoning behind rules
Encourage discussion and reflection
Connect actions to real-world impact
This transforms rules into meaningful learning experiences.
Effective school strategies for teaching values
The most successful approaches to values education involve the entire school community – teachers, students, parents and staff.
1. Environmental awareness programs
Schools can foster responsibility through hands-on initiatives such as:
Recycling systems
School gardens
Renewable energy projects
Second-hand bookshops
These activities help children understand their role in protecting the planet.
2. Anti-bullying initiatives
Strong anti-bullying programs go beyond policies and focus on prevention through:
Empathy-building exercises
Peer accountability activities
Confidence and self-esteem development
Helping children recognize and respond to bullying is key to creating a safe environment.
3. Anti-racism and inclusion programs
Promoting inclusivity requires a proactive, school-wide approach:
Teaching diverse histories and cultures
Inviting guest speakers from different communities
Challenging stereotypes through discussion
Encouraging empathy for marginalized groups
These efforts help children develop respect for diversity from an early age.
The role of consistency
Children learn as much from what adults do as from what they say. For values education to be effective:
Teachers must model positive behavior
School policies should reflect stated values
Parents should be involved where possible
Consistency across all environments reinforces learning and builds trust.
Putting values into practice
Teaching values to young learners is not an “extra” part of education – it is foundational. When children understand respect, empathy and responsibility, they are better equipped to succeed academically, socially and emotionally.
By embedding values into everyday learning and school culture, educators can help shape thoughtful, responsible individuals who contribute positively to society.
Teaching values early helps children develop a strong moral foundation. It shapes their behavior, decision-making and ability to form positive relationships throughout life.
Teachers can integrate values through discussions, storytelling, group activities and real-life scenarios. Modeling behavior and explaining the “why” behind actions is especially important.
Parents can reinforce values by modeling positive behavior, having open conversations and encouraging children to reflect on their actions and choices.
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Students all over the globe learn English for many reasons. Some of these motivations may come from the students themselves – perhaps they are learning because they are travelling to an English-speaking area, or they want to be able to converse with English-speaking friends and colleagues. Other reasons for learning could include meeting school requirements, studying abroad, or progressing their careers.
As well as different reasons to learn English, there are also different goals. Many students are still focused on becoming fluent in English, and we are seeing an increase in people who want to learn the language for specific reasons. For example, immersing themselves in a particular culture or simply being able to order from a menu while travelling abroad.
Teachers are focusing on these personal needs to help students achieve their actual goals. It’s likely you’ve already spoken to your students about why they want to learn English. Understanding this is important as different motivations can influence a student’s attitude towards learning the language – and it may be necessary for you to adapt your teaching strategies for different groups of learners.
Teaching English to different groups of learners
Let’s meet some different groups of students, learn a little more about their motivations and explore whether different motivations alter how students learn English. You may recognise some of these learners in your classes.
1. Adult learners
These students are learning English for pleasure or personal reasons. It might be because of travel, social or family reasons or perhaps because a better grasp of English might assist them with their careers. There are also adult learners who could be learning English as an immigration requirement.
For example, 23-year-old Alice decided to learn English so she could meet people and have more meaningful interactions with her English-speaking neighbours. She says: “I was very shy and not very confident in speaking to people, but learning English helped me connect with others and meet new people. I have changed a lot.”
A motivation like Alice’s requires strong teacher support and peer motivation woven into structured learning. Alice can set her goals and with the GSE Learning Objectives map out what she needs to do to achieve them. Teacher encouragement and personal support – and easy access to digital coursework, a social community of others all learning English, and small classes that emphasise conversation – keep people like Alice engaged and motivated to achieve her language goals. “I cannot do it without them”, she says.
2. Professional learners
These learners are typically in a more formal type of English programme and are learning the language to achieve specific career milestones, such as a promotion. Their employer might even be paying for their learning or they might be reimbursed for the cost of their lessons.
Vincenzo is 33 and works as a Product Manager in Milan for an international organization with offices around the world. He says: “I asked to take English classes as part of my professional development. My company chose an English provider and gave me a choice of group or one-to-one classes. I chose one-to-one classes as I’m easily distracted.”
Professional learners like Vincenzo succeed using a blended learning model of learning in class and at home that they can tailor around their lives. They have a strong motivation to succeed – that’s why learning at home works for them – but step-by-step progress provided by the GSE Learning Objectives is also important to keep this motivation alive. “I met with my teacher once a week where we would work on mistakes I would make while speaking English. He would also give me extra practice materials, like interesting games and videos to listen to in my own time, to help me really get a better understanding of the language,” Vincenzo says.
3. Academic learners
Learning English is a requirement for many school programmes and students will continue this at college or university. Many of these students will be learning English with a formal course that offers practice tests for high-stakes exams.
Seventeen-year-old Subra is from Malaysia and learns English at school. Some of her family live in Australia and she is considering studying abroad to attend a University that specializes in health care. When she was young, she learned in a traditional classroom backed with tests that helped her see how she was progressing. Now she uses technology, such as her Android Huawei phone to practise her English but still needs the validation of regular testing to know she is on track.
Subra says: “I am used to studying for tests as I prepared hard for exams to get into middle school and senior school, which was totally determined by test results.”
Academic learners like Subra need to see demonstrable results to help them stay motivated and guide them to the level of English they need to achieve to get the required score on high-stakes tests. With the clear GSE Learning Objectives and a placement test, academic learners can map out where they are right now and where they need to be in order to reach their academic goals. These learners need encouragement and validation of their progress from their teachers to help keep them on track.
Understanding student motivations will help you teach to their specific needs, thus helping them to stay focused and motivated in achieving their goals.
Planning grammar lessons with the GSE Teacher Toolkit
Grammar is one of the core areas of language teaching. Often, new teachers are nervous about teaching it, but sooner or later, all English teachers will have to get to grips with it. Whether you love or hate teaching grammar to your students, the GSE Teacher Toolkit makes planning a successful grammar lesson easier than ever.
When it comes to planning a grammar-focused lesson, there are two main strategies to choose from: a communicative approach or a focus-on-form approach. The communicative approach is more commonly used.
So, let’s have a look at how the GSE Teacher Toolkit can help you plan a communicative grammar lesson that is effective and engaging for your students.
Teaching communicative grammar
When you’re planning a grammar lesson, you want to be sure there is a reason for students to use the grammar point that you’re going to teach. That way, your students will be more motivated to learn the form and practise using it correctly.
Using and applying grammar generally requires producing something. That’s why grammar, as an enabling skill, is often aligned to speaking and writing, the productive skills. When you want your students to use or produce a particular grammar form, you can begin by looking for the associated skills in speaking and writing.
Choosing a skill to teach
Imagine that you have a class that is learning at an A2 level (35 - 40 on the GSE range). You’ll want to help them work towards A2+/B1. So, it’s a good idea to plan lessons around skills that are in your target GSE range to push their progress.
In order to plan an A2+ range speaking class, you can filter the GSE Teacher Toolkit to look in your target learning range for specific skills to teach:
